It's Baton Rouge: Out to Lunch

Today’s edition of Out to Lunch sits at the intersection of two big ideas: immersion and reach.  One guest is building virtual worlds for the world’s largest energy companies and the U.S. Air Force — right here in Baton Rouge. The other is shaping how millions of people around the globe experience the NFL — from a home office in Baton Rouge. 

Both guests grew up in Louisiana, both left, both came b...

A little wartime history: In 1940, at the start of World War II, approximately 12 million women were working outside the household in the United States, comprising about 25% of the female population. That number rose significantly during the war to over 18 million by 1945, as the U.S. government encouraged women in posters and commercial advertising to volunteer for wartime service in factories. Inspired by a song by Redd Evans and...

If you listen to this show you’ve heard at the end of every episode the credits “today’s show was engineered by J T O’Neal” and “photos were taken by Ian Ledo and Miranda Albarez.” But do you know what that actually means? What is an audio engineer? What do photographers actually do that’s different from what you do with your phone?

On today's Out to Lunch we turn the mics on our prod...

The disco era of the Seventies is characterized by a danceable "four-on-the-floor" beat, lush orchestration, synthesizers, and glamorous fashion, ultimately exploding into mainstream pop culture with hits, iconic clubs like Studio 54, and films like Saturday Night Fever, before fading by 1980.

Filmed in 1977, Saturday Night Fever was a critical and commercial success, helping to popularize disco around the world. The soundtrack, fe...

Louisiana cuisine is famous for its bold, flavorful dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, and crawfish étouffée. Stemming from rich French, Spanish, African, and Native American influences, our world famous fare is illuminated primarily through Cajun and Creole traditions, using local seafood, smoked meats, rice, and spices for iconic meals.

Take my favorite Louisiana dish, gumbo, for instance. There are certain ingredients, ...

Each year, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office grants hundreds of thousands of patents to people who embody what we sometimes refer to as “American ingenuity”. These are folks who are creative problem-solvers, capable of out-of-the box thinking that leads to innovation.  

From Thomas Edison to Steve Jobs, American ingenuity has resulted in a host of innovations and inventions that most of us now take for gran...

Recent brides and their fathers who paid for the wedding won’t be surprised to learn that the average cost of a wedding in the U.S. is between $30,000 and $36,000, depending on the couple's choices, incuding the wedding location and number of guests.

One of the major costs of any wedding is photography.

In an image-driven society where pics of the most mundane activities are posted online for public consumption, capturing the...

There are a lot of things to plan for when moving to a new city: renting a UHaul, forwarding personal mail, driving the most efficient route to a new job. But few people plan for or even consider what perhaps is the most important aspect to a successful transition to a new city: making friends.

Making new friends is hard in any city but especially so in small towns and cities where friends have known each other since grade school, ...

Would you be surprised to learn that the top five degrees in demand in the US are in healthcare, technology, engineering, business, and mathematics? Probably not. 

But as AI is introduced into nearly every facet of the workplace, college admission managers and HR directors are increasingly pointing to the importance of soft skills, the personal attributes and interpersonal abilities that define how you interact with others in ...

Imagine if you had a few thousand dollars to spend however you wanted? What would you do? A few of my friends might put a down payment on a house. Others would take a long-dreamed about vacation. Or buy an expensive piece of art.  Most would give some money to their favorite charity. 

Yes, Americans certainly are generous with their money. In 2023, individuals gave $374 billion dollars, representing 67% of total giving, a...

You've probably heard that public radio currently exists in an environment of less than zero public funding. "Less than zero" because when the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was disbanded, monies that had already been promised to public radio stations like WRKF were clawed back.

Today, the only reason you're able to hear this conversation on Out to Lunch is because of the the actions of good corporate citizens who have stepped...

In years past, formal dining rooms were used for Sunday dinner or holiday get-togethers, opportunities to cook a traditional meal, served on fine china, leisurely eaten among family or friends over a glass of wine.

Today, estate sales are jam-packed with barely-used china no one wants because in most modern households meals are often fast-food or grabbed from the to-go counter and holiday meals are often catered and sometimes serve...

By all accounts, it’s difficult to land a job or even an interview right now. There’s all kinds of reasons for that, including a stagnant labor market and sluggish hiring by cautious employers. Recent college graduates are bearing the brunt of what is one of the most challenging markets in years, with entry-level white-collar jobs being especially hard to secure.

If you are unemployed and looking for inspiration, you&rs...

Since Starbucks opened its first store in Seattle in 1971, coffee shops have become a staple in nearly every city. In Berkeley, California there are approximately 59 coffee shops, resulting in one coffee shop for every 2,000+ residents, which is a higher ratio than Seattle. New York City has more coffee shops per capita than any other American city.

When I read those numbers, I naturally thought to myself how do they all stay in bu...

The reasons people give for starting a business aren’t all that surprising. Financial independence, pursuing personal passions, requiring a flexible schedule, or making a positive impact on the community often top the list. What’s surprising is how many businesses start in garages.

Many of America’s most successful companies, including tech giants Amazon, Hewlett-Packard, and Microsoft, started in humble garages.&...

95 percent of the world’s bourbon is made in Kentucky. But that doesn’t stop aficionados of the smooth amber-colored liquor from debating where the name bourbon originated. Among Louisianans, there’s no question that bourbon got its name from the infamous street in the French Quarter in New Orleans. 

John Hampton has capitalized on both the proximity of Bourbon Street and our rich French Louisiana history to ...

Depending on your disposition for integrating technology into your work day, you believe AI is either a tool for increased efficiency and productivity. Or it presents challenges such as job displacement, the potential for bias and misinformation, and other ethical concerns. 

By the way, AI wrote that, which might foretell the end of my career as a writer and radio host. My two lunch guests today potentially worry about the fut...

If you read the bestseller “Bowling Alone” in 2000 or are taking notice of wellness stories offering advice on how to reconnect with others IRL, you know that Americans are facing a crisis of loneliness.

According to an advisory issued in 2023 by then U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, about one-in-two adults in America report experiencing loneliness, a condition that impacts mortality at a similar rate as smoking u...

Here’s a plotline we’re all familiar with, something from a novel or a movie. After years of good health, our heroine begins to feel less like herself. She feels sluggish and fatigued at work. She loses her appetite and can’t sleep at night. She begins to worry. 

So she makes an appointment with her doctor and the recommended specialists, of which there are many. Yet, the medical diagnosis is the same: there&...